Shloka 6
शुकस्य मिथिलागमनम् (Śukasya Mithilāgamanam) — Śuka’s Journey to Mithilā and the Courtly Test
भूपाल! नरेश्वर! फिर वे अपने तेजसे जरायुज, अण्डज, स्वेदज और उदिभज्ज--इन चार प्रकारके प्राणियोंसे भरे हुए सम्पूर्ण जगत्को शीघ्र ही भस्म कर डालते हैं ।।
bhūpāla! nareśvara! punaḥ te svatejasā jarāyujāṇḍajasvedajodbhijja-caturvidha-prāṇibhiḥ paripūrṇaṃ samastaṃ jagat kṣipram eva bhasma kurvanti. etad-unmeṣa-mātreṇa vinaṣṭaṃ sthāṇu-jaḍam; kūrma-pṛṣṭham iva bhūmir bhavaty atha samantataḥ.
Yājñavalkya dit : «Ô protecteur de la terre, ô roi ! Alors, par la seule force de leur éclat, ils réduisent promptement en cendres le monde entier, rempli des quatre classes d’êtres—nés du ventre, de l’œuf, de la sueur ou de l’humidité, et ceux qui germent de la terre. En un simple battement de paupières, tout ce qui est fixe et tout ce qui se meut est détruit ; et la terre, de tous côtés, paraît semblable au dos bombé d’une tortue.»
याज़्वल्क्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the fragility of the created order: even the totality of beings—classified in the traditional fourfold scheme of birth—can be annihilated in an instant by overwhelming tejas. Ethically, it presses the listener (a king) toward humility, detachment, and dharmic governance grounded in awareness of impermanence.
Yājñavalkya addresses a king and describes a catastrophic, near-instant destruction of the world. All living beings of every category are burned to ashes, and the earth’s surface is said to look like a tortoise’s back—an image evoking a transformed, desolated landscape during cosmic upheaval.